Dealing with Burnout: The Perspective of a Burned-Out Artist (Me)

The other day, someone asked me how I'm not burned out. That's my secret; I always am. Jokes aside, this is a serious topic. I've noticed many of your requests relate to mental health issues such as art block, depression, and so on. It's no longer just about skills, but the motivation to start or continue in this field. Therefore, I've been considering starting a series to address issues like these. Today, let's talk about burnout, a problem I frequently encounter. I have some theories on how it can be managed, which might help you as well.

Anxiety caused by high expectations of the final outcome. I want the drawing to be perfect or to have a great reception when it comes to social media. The solution is to keep it as simple as I can, pushing myself towards developing simple ideas that can be conveyed through lines, simple shapes, and contour drawing. This way, I kind of force myself to chill, not care too much about the outcome, and just organically create something I know will not matter. Being ambitious without vision can sometimes be problematic.

Lack of interest, possibly because the topic does not really interest me, so I see it more as a repetitive task. This applies often to "work" related art; we know it's good for us, there's payment involved, and sometimes it's very simple to execute, but the fact that it's predictable or repetitive makes the whole process annoying to the point where I cannot even touch the canvas. The solution for this is to improve execution. If you cannot change the subject because of work, think about what the most difficult part of the process is and choose one hour of the day to perform it, often recommending this hour to be the best one, when you feel at your peak (for me, it's in the mornings, but feel free to choose yours). The idea is to address this tough situation as quickly and best as you can, while in the long run, you move into a better landscape.

Fatigue. I've been spending way too many hours in front of the laptop drawing and painting, and I really need some days to forget. This often gets solved after a good sleep and a few days out of the workspace, having a conversation about non-related subjects or just simply going for a walk. To perform for long periods, resting is key.

Lack of short-term vision or direction. Drawing is a problem-solving process but visually. Some of us, sometimes, get anxious after spending several minutes on a sketch and not actually achieving something substantial. My solution is not to force myself to draw from imagination but to use references. That way, I have a sense of how the end will look, allowing me to have a direction in which I can focus. I might feel a bit of anxiety if I can't capture the likeness of the reference, but this will depend on the reference's complexity and goal. In that regard, I recommend picking easy challenges. Achieving them provides a sense of realization that might boost your process to try over and over again with other subjects, perhaps more complex.

Lack of long-term vision or direction. If there's no big goal direction like a novel, book, short animation series, etc., sometimes it makes the whole process tougher. For instance, when I create an animation, I'm excited to see all the frames working together, and I don't get too picky about each frame because it's the whole composition that brings value, allowing me to keep moving forward regardless of the length of the animation.

Self-awareness. Maybe you think you are fully aware of what the problem is but maybe you're not. Maybe there's something you need to fix or get done that's not art-related. Remember, art is a consequence of living, not the other way around. Perhaps there's a habit you need to remove or integrate into your life to perform better regularly, regardless of the task's nature. Also, be aware that regardless of how pleasant and meaningful your goal is, some days you will just not want to do anything, and maybe the reason is beyond your comprehension. But remember, resting is not quitting, and you can rest as long as needed to recharge your batteries.

I understand this is a difficult subject, and I encourage you to speak with a specialist. A professional in psychology might offer more effective techniques to tackle this problem. I can only share my own experiences in the hope of helping, but it's possible the issue isn't directly related to art. Please let me know if this helps you to some extent.

Remember, suffering is a part of life, but being able to choose what we suffer for is the 'ideal'. Seek balance and maintain awareness.

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Also! Tomorrow Saturday 24 at 8:00 PM CET, 11:00 AM PST, 2:00 PM EST, we will have a 'Drawing Hangout' event here on Discord. I'll be around for an hour or so, but feel free to stay as long as you please. Thanks to Broyam for the suggestion. See you tomorrow!